Fitted Furniture

When we moved into our house the previous owners left lots of fitted furniture in the bedrooms. This was nice as it meant that we didn’t have to buy any new bedroom cabinets but after redecorating all the rooms over the last few weeks I’ve really seen the downside of it.

The first problem turned up in my daughter’s bedroom. That had fitted cabinets which actually made rather poor use of the space. The room has always smelled damp and I’ve never quite been able to determine where it came from (although the old roof was leaking at one time). The real culprit came to light when I removed the fitted cupboards to find that the skirting board had been removed behind them leaving a gaping hole, through the lathe and plaster, exposing the room to the external wall. It also revealed a mould infested wall filled with crumbling plaster where the units had been attached.

My son’s room also had fitted cabinets which did make decent use of the space but also hid a large crack in the plaster which, again, was very mouldy and also made cleaning the room the devil’s own work. This was also one of the rooms where the ceiling partly collapsed due to a leaking roof last year but my son was very stubborn about not having it redecorated which left the room looking like a bomb had hit it (in fairness that is also down to being occupied by a 15 year old.) To make matters worse, the room also stank. I actually discovered the cause of this when I removed the fitted cupboards - they had been installed over a very manky old bit of carpet.

Not Fitted Furnitire

Anyway, Having spent the last fortnight stripping his room down, fixing the wall and ceiling, insulating and papering the walls (and painting them in “Sky Blue” at his request) and arranging for a new carpet to be fitted; I have finally been able to install some non-fitted furniture that I bought off the internet. I think it looks pretty good although my son complained that the walls are too blue (in fairness he didn’t know what “sky blue” is as he doesn’t leave his room and he lives in Scotland) and he said the furniture looked rather old fashioned (which it is, to be honest, but so is the house and it is actually very solidly made stuff as well as being dirt cheap). However, I think he is now seeing the benefit in all this as he demands that everyone remove their shoes before entering his room.